


The Times I Loved You

by borqui_l



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-18
Updated: 2014-05-18
Packaged: 2018-01-25 13:00:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1649516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/borqui_l/pseuds/borqui_l
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin and Arthur have lived many lives together, though many things change from life to life, their love does not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Times I Loved You

_**The first time I loved you, we could only have stolen moments.** _

 

Merlin was cleaning Arthur’s chambers when Arthur walked in.

 

“I see you haven’t finished your chores. Are you really that useless, _Mer_ lin?” said Arthur, but the comment didn’t have any bite, only fondness.

 

“Prat,” Merlin muttered. His annoyance didn’t last long however, because Arthur wrapped his strong arms around Merlin’s waist. Merlin leaned back into Arthur, marveling at how this was _his_.

 

“I guess chores will just have to wait then,” Arthur said as he turned Merlin around and claimed his lips. Their mouths moved together, and Merlin was biting Arthur’s lower lip to encourage him when a knock at the door announced that someone else was there. The two men reluctantly drew apart, and Merlin had to return to his chores as if nothing had happened.

 

_**The second time, it wasn’t hard to be discreet.** _

 

“ _Thank you whoever invented greek public baths_ ,” thought Arthur as he watched Merlin submerge into the warm water. He allowed himself a few moments to enjoy the sight and then joined Merlin in the water. They were lucky to have their activities line up so that they would study together and then go to the baths together. Arthur pulled Merlin close and sighed. They stayed like that for a few minutes but it soon turned into kissing. This kept up for quite a while until the door banged open and they jumped apart. They still stayed close, however and no one gave a second thought to their entwined feet in the water. Arthur would be content if the rest of their life was like this.

 

**_Sometimes, hatred wasn’t directed towards them (well, mostly)._ **

 

Merlin never liked wars. He never let Arthur go alone. He learned that lesson already. This time, he went with Arthur. Unfortunately, his fighting skills hadn’t improved much since Arthur was king.

 

They shared a tent, and the crusade was so long, no one thought twice about how their companionship could be something more. This held true until one night, when after dinner, they retired early. Not soon after, someone walked in on them, finding them with their arms entwined, and tongues in each other’s mouths. They were lucky this time because the newcomer was either too drunk or too preoccupied with their goal to take Jerusalem (or possibly both) to care.

 

**_Our fourth life was the first time we were truly afraid._ **

 

It was part of their daily routine now. Each evening, they would check each other for large, black lumps, then hold each other close when they found none. They had already lost so many friends to the Black Death, neither of them could bear to lose the other.

 

Merlin was late coming home to their hut on the outskirts of a village. Arthur rushed over, worried that it was the plague that had fatigued him. He checked Merlin, and let out a sigh of relief when he found nothing. Well, he was until Merlin collapsed into his arms. Merlin was exhausted from keeping up the protective spells for so long, and Arthur knew that the spells wouldn’t hold for much longer. They held each other until they fell asleep, relieved to have lived another day.

 

_**Until we loved each other for a fifth time.** _

 

Merlin had to be more careful. This was the third town in the past year. He knew Arthur was tired of the running, but this was their life now. He hadn’t meant to be discovered. He was magic, and he couldn’t bottle it inside him for so long. They ran and ran through the forest. After a while, it could have been hours or days, they stopped to rest. They clung to each other, breathing heavily.

 

“I’m sorry,” panted Merlin.

 

“It’s alright, love,” replied Arthur, stroking Merlin’s hair, “I’m just glad it’s not you in the flames.”

 

Their lips met, but then they heard the voices and ran once again.

 

**_The sixth time I loved you was the first time you didn’t want to fight._ **

 

Arthur stormed back into their house. It was not an uncommon sight these days. Arthur was a rich contractor, and his father had invested a lot of money into the colonies in the new world. Arthur was now in charge of those contracts, yet he wouldn’t mind giving them away as the war was coming to it’s inevitable end.

 

Merlin listened patiently as Arthur ranted about wasting money in the war they were sure to lose, especially now that France had allied with the rebels. He assured Merlin that he wasn’t going to go fight that ridiculous war, and Merlin couldn’t be more relieved. Arthur allowed himself to be held that night, knowing the real reason for not going to fight was the man laying next to him.

 

_**Our seventh life was the easiest.** _

__

Merlin and Arthur were having a great time at the party. Arthur’s business was going well, and Merlin was managing to get a steady income. For them, it really was the roaring twenties. They even got to spend their weekends like this, going out with friends, and then returning to their flat for some time to themselves.

 

Merlin laughed as Arthur attempted to play pool again. He took pride in excelling in the game, however, Arthur was not so gifted.

 

“It’s like this, love,” Merlin said as he reached around Arthur, correcting his form, and sinking a ball. They smiled at each other and Arthur slowly kissed Merlin.

 

They were oblivious of the wolf-whistles of their friends. They knew, and Merlin and Arthur felt as though they had the world in their hands

 

_**The eighth time, we were lucky to be safe.** _

__

The sound of explosives was a constant soundtrack of their evenings.

 

Each night, when they heard the sirens, Merlin and Arthur would huddle together in their shelter and turn up the radio so hopefully Churchill’s voice would drown out the shells.

 

They would hold each other and hope to make it through one more night, hope it wouldn’t be their home that was hit. Merlin had somehow convinced Arthur not to fight. He knew that Arthur still felt guilty about not going, but Merlin wanted to have him as long as he could.

 

Finally, the bombs stopped, and they knew that no matter what happened, they would still have a home in each other.

 

_**We had our ninth life in America, and it was one of the shortest.** _

 

Merlin would never forget the life they had in America. They found each other early that time, but destiny wouldn’t allow them to have each other for long.

 

He remembered the day Arthur was drafted and sent to Vietnam. It was only a week after Arthur’s eighteenth birthday. Merlin wept and Arthur promised him that he would be home soon, and not to worry. But Merlin remembered even more vividly when he received word that Arthur had been killed in action. Merlin couldn’t handle it, and for a while, he took it out on himself. He was supposed to keep Arthur safe, and he wasn’t there to protect his king, his friend, his lover.

 

Merlin knew he had to do something, so he joined the growing anti-war movement. He hoped to make officials pay for taking away his Arthur. But protests were dangerous, and easily turned violent. During one such protest, the police turn on them with guns. Merlin ran, and tried to hide, but he wasn’t fast enough.

 

‘ _I’ll see you soon Arthur, it’s all for you,_ ’  he thought as he fell onto the pavement. Not soon after, his eyes were unseeing.

 

_**And now, I love you for the tenth time.** _

 

Arthur woke before Merlin that morning. He studied Merlin, loving the way his dark hair was ruffled from sleep, his high cheekbones, and his long dark lashes against his pale skin. Merlin’s arm was draped across Arthur’s bare chest, and their feet were tangled together under the covers. He stopped his study of Merlin to check the time, and realized it was time to wake him up, because today they couldn’t be late. Arthur did so with a slow kiss, and Merlin was awake when the finally broke apart.

 

“Morning,” Merlin muttered sleepily.

 

“Good morning, love,” Arthur replied, smiling fondly, “Big day,” And with that, Merlin smiled and dragged both of them out of bed to get ready.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Later that evening, Merlin was talking to friends at their reception when Arthur came up behind him and wrapped his arms around Merlin’s waist.

 

“Ready to get out of here, husband?” Arthur whispered in Merlin’s ear.

 

“I thought you’d never ask,” replied Merlin, smiling back at his new husband.

 

As they struggled to make their way into the honeymoon sweet without giving other patrons too much of a show, Merlin had a weird feeling.

  
It was as if a spirit of a dragon was smiling, and said “Congratulations young warlock, your destiny is finally taking shape.” Merlin didn’t think about it much however, because he and Arthur had a lot of exciting things to do on their wedding night.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Rie and Lupe for betaing! This was a lot of fun to write and I hope you enjoyed it!  
> For any of you who were following the time periods, this is what they are:  
> 1 - Cannon Era  
> 2 - Ancient Greece  
> 3 - Crusades  
> 4 - 1400s: Bubonic Plague  
> 5 - 1500s: Witch Burnings  
> 6 - 1780 England  
> 7 - 1920s  
> 8 - World War II  
> 9 - Vietnam War  
> 10 - Modern


End file.
